Andover Cycling pushed through wet roads and unfavorable headwinds at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway against Phillips Exeter Academy, Holderness, and Proctor Academy, making notable progress from the week prior. Andover’s girls pair in category A placed second, the boys pair in category C won, and the boys pair in category B ranked fifth.
Matt Robinson ’27, a member of Andover’s winning category C pair who partnered with Frank Hu ’26, described the severe conditions on the racing track prior to the race’s start.
“Today, it was a longer course than we’ve done before. We were able to stick together really well and everyone was pretty nervous because it was raining when we got there, and rain and bikes don’t go well together. But, [everyone was] staying calm and giving their best performance… At the beginning, we were all like, ‘I don’t want it to rain and I don’t want to fall and add in that risk.’ But then, once we got there, everyone was ready to go, and the atmosphere was really cool because it was on a NASCAR track, so there’s a big stadium even though there’s not that many people,” said Robinson.
Emily Wu ’25 praised the efforts of both her Co-Captains in the race. She recognized Co-Captain Yasmine Tazi ’24 for her hard work despite recently recovering from an injury, as well as the performance of her partner and the cycling team’s other Co-Captain, Anna Ohm ’24.
“A lot of people stood out today. First, it was Yasmine, one of our team Captains’s first race this season after recovering from an injury. She did great today; everyone finished and she went out hard. My cycling partner, the other Co-Captain Anna, went out really hard and she really pushed me today on the up-hills. Also, team time trials are in pairs and one of our pairs, Matt and Frank Hu, who are both new to cycling, they got on the podium and got first place, and girls also got on podium,” said Wu.
The team’s Co-Captain, Tazi, highlighted the team’s preparation for the race, specifically their focus on a cycling technique called drafting.
“For this specific race, we really worked on drafting. Drafting is a technique in cycling where a rider ‘sits’ on the wheel of the front rider and that helps them put in less effort than they would if they were the front rider. So, the more people you are drafting, the less effort you have to put in. We worked on drafting each other… That’s really what we worked on on Monday. Tuesday was a recovery ride and on Wednesday, that translated into the team time trial” said Tazi.
Tazi also expressed her gratitude towards the coaches for their support and influence on the team. She believed that without their guidance, the new team, which includes many novices this year, would not have been able to achieve the same results.
“Finally I would also shout out our coaches: Coach [Benjamin] Duclos and Coach [Samuel] Zaeder. They’re always extremely supportive, they’re reassuring, and they really help us move forward as a team. Also, Coach [Sara] Parker, who wasn’t able to come, but she’s always wonderful asking about our day and supporting us throughout training,” said Tazi.
Wu praised the team’s major development since the beginning of the season as well as their performance in the race given the short window of preparation with their partners, and seeks to only improve from this race.
“I would say our biggest weakness is the lack of experience but I’m already seeing really impressive improvement from everyone on our team, especially new members of the team. We are seeing steady rides and group efforts that are orchestrated within two days because bikers need to get used to each other on team time trials, and this is our third day riding together as pairs. Within a short amount of time, we have already gotten really far from starting from point zero,” said Wu.
Andover’s next race will take place this upcoming week on Wednesday.
